


Jackrabbit - Short Stories

by FryeFox



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Detectives, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Alternate Universe - Tattoo Parlor, Asexual Sandy, Fan Characters, Multi, Recreational Drug Use, Shorts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-05
Updated: 2019-07-05
Packaged: 2020-05-07 14:53:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19211722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FryeFox/pseuds/FryeFox
Summary: A series of short stories featuring Jack and Bunnymund.Story One: Tattoo Parlour AUStory Two: High School AUStory Three: Soulmates AUStory Four: Detective AUStory Five: Superhero AU(More may be added)





	Jackrabbit - Short Stories

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! I'm still working on Return! I'm just taking a small break from it due to the current chapter fighting me. I am halfway through writing it, however! I wrote this while baked out of my tiny brain, for,,,,, research for the fic......
> 
> This story fought so much with me to write, and I just wanted to be done with it honestly. Sorry.
> 
> \------
> 
> Jack and his friends go get tattoos while baked, and Jack falls head over heels for the giant rabbit tattoo artist. 
> 
> In this AU, there are towns which sprirts live in and take up secondary jobs in, like in Spirited Away.

Jack was baked.

He was absolutely stoned out of his tiny brain.

He didn't realise he was so stoned at first, of course, he had pretty much felt nothing. It wasn't until he stood up that his mind fogged over and he felt the world around him moving in slow motion.

“Fuck, you’re absolutely smashed.” April said from their seat next to him, as Jack promptly flopped back down next to them, his groan from hitting the chair was delayed be a few seconds. Scarecrow slipped his hand between Jack’s head and the back of the wall, in order to keep Jack’s head from hitting the wall.

Jack had met April and their friend Scarecrow about 8 years ago, when he first arrived in Spirituum. Very creative name for a town made up of spirits. From an outsider, a human’s perspective, the town looked like any other falling apart ghost town, with winding streets crowded with buildings piled on top of each other, leading to the idea that it was overcrowding and a lack of resources that lead to the hundreds of years old town’s abandonment. However, through the eyes of a spirit, the town was full of life, with lights stringing between houses and shops, music playing from the town square, and lively conversations being heard from any point in the town. The town had grown in the many years of its existence, growing both up and out. New houses were built on top of existing shops and houses, as well as branching out into the deep, vast forest it was hidden within.

Jack had excitedly packed up his things from his cave in Burgess and travelled to the village after he first found out about it from a passing by tree nymph who heard about it from her cousin, who heard about it through his girlfriend, who heard it somewhere else down the grapevine. It was hidden somewhere within a deep forest in Japan, and was accessible through many winding caves and train networks around the globe. This meant that spirits from all over the world could quickly get from Spiritumm to wherever they needed to be, and so Jack knew he could return to Burgess whenever he wanted. He had always wanted a permanent place, and that place being among other spirits, who he could speak to and they could speak back, absolutely didn’t hurt either.

When he declared to the town office that he wanted to move to the town, or more declared to the tiny shrew looking goblin who sat at the reception desk they he wanted to move into town, they slapped down a huge survey spanning over 300 pages for him to fill out. The survey was filled with questions to learn his traits, abilities, and generally, what made him tick, in order to place him with appropriate house mates. Spirits needed to have residency within the town for at least 60 to 200 years, depending on the spirit, before they were allowed a house of their own. The town office decided that the best fit for him was a small flat with three other trickster spirits, instead of placing him with winter spirits, which Jack was incredibly thankful for. Winter spirits tended to be uptight assholes with no chill. Pun intended.

The spirits he was placed with were wild, and wacky, and immediately made him feel at home. Fool’s, the prankster spirit of April Fool’s, had short red hair that went up at all angles and skin freckled with tiny multi-coloured spots, who seemed to move like they didn’t have bones in their body keeping them from moving around like a Loony Tunes character. Their friend Scarecrow was… Well, a scarecrow, pumpkin head and hay-filled body and all, who acted as a Halloween spirit. He didn’t have any legs, but he did have a post, and used it to hop from one place to the next. There was another trickster spirit living there too, but she had just reached her 130th year of living there, and was finally able to move out into her own home, with some summer spirit she was really keen on, according to April. She was out before Jack moved in, meaning he got her room. A shame, since she decided to leave a snake in the closet as a house warming gift, resulting in Jack accidentally freezing the entire flat out of shock.

April and Scarecrow had gotten a good laugh out of that.

While living with them, Jack learnt about what they did in their downtime, which was smoke weed.

A fair amount of it, actually.

Jack had never touched the stuff, but he had seen humans using it, especially in the 70’s, when it seemed to really take off in the U.S. His first time trying it was a complete accident, when he got hotboxed and managed to get baked enough to forget where he put his staff, which he elected both of their help in finding. After about 30 minutes, they all realised that Jack had been holding it the entire time.

That was about 5 years ago, and as it currently stood, Jack could barely keep his head on straight, and the intense feeling of hunger that washed over him was quickly drowned out by how hilarious he suddenly found the golden lucky cat clock that sat on the mantle piece, swinging its paw back and forth, its clock function having not worked ever since Jack first saw it. Maybe time worked differently in this place, or maybe April had just never bothered to put some batteries in it.

“Okay, that’s enough for you.” April said, taking the bong and lighter from his hand while Jack leaned against Scarecrow, who joined in with Jack on laughing about how hilarious the clock suddenly was.

“Fuck, I love that clock. I wish I could remember that clock forever.” Jack sighed, beginning to calm down from his laughing fit.

“Yeah, well, I’m still taking it with me next year.” April said, grinning at them both. Jack and Scarecrow had spoken about how much they hated that thing for so long, and all it took was a little weed for them to dramatically change their tune.

“Aww, you’re moving?”

“Yeah, the town office finally sent me a letter this morning saying that, like, I’m finally able to move into my own place.”

“But won’t you miss us?”

“Absolutely not.”

Jack huffed and leaned back against the couch, knocking his head against Scarecrow’s, who grunted in response, but didn’t seem all too bothered.

“I wish that there was a way to like… Remember you before you go away… You could leave that clock here for us to remember you by.”

April shook their head. “Nope, it comes with me. I love that clock, it was a gift from my beloved.”

Jack and Scarecrow shot them a confused glance, but it read more as tired and out of it.

“Me. I’m my beloved. And it cost me a whopping grand total of absolutely nothing.”

“That’s because you stole it.”

“It’s not stealing if they don’t catch you doing it, silly.” April said with a sharp grin, stretching out across both their laps, and settling their head in Jack’s lap, like a giant cat, if that cat had a big red nose, like Boo Boo the Fool. Scarecrow suddenly lit up and his body jolted, making Jack and April recoil away from him.

“I had an idea!”

“Dude, no baked ideas are good ideas.”

“No, listen! We should get tattoos to remember each other by!”

“Dude-”

“Jack, you could get that cat clock on you! Like, wherever you want it! That'll be on you forever!”

Jack sprung to life at that revelation, and instantly seemed on board. April didn’t know how to react to their self-destructive behaviour other than to go along with it and see what happened. The night was young, and was apparently leading to some interesting developments involving some very, very permanent results. How very exciting.

“Would anywhere even be open now?” Jack asked, very excited at the idea of the golden cat clock his sober self absolutely hated being part of his body. Scarecrow thought for a moment, straightening up off of the couch and hopping to stand in the centre of the room.

“I think that spring spirit runs a place that’s open for the first few months after Easter.”

“Who, the rabbit?”

“Yeah, that guy.”

April immediately groaned and flopped back down into Jack’s lap, making him wince in pain as their head collided with his thighs. They rolled over to face Scarecrow from where they stood in the middle of the cramped room.

“Ugh, no! That guy is such a killjoy! I thought spring spirits were supposed to be all horny and fun.”

“What about Jacheongbi?” Scarecrow asked as he swayed back and forth like a metronome, no doubt trying to stay upright, shooting April a questioning glare.

“That lady is absolutely horny and fun, what are you talking about?” Jack responded for April, who readily agreed with Jack, nodding their head with a grin on their wide face.

“Whatever, he still does some amazing work. I mean, I’m not surprised with all that time he spends, like, painting eggs for his holiday. All that work has got to have given him a few thousand years of practice, right? How long as Easter been going on, anyway?”

“Which form, the original one, or the one that the Catholic church stole for their poster boy’s day of rising?”

“Nevermind, we’re slipping into some dangerous and insulting territory here. All I’m saying is, he’d be great to go to for this, I mean, did you see the ink he did for that North guy? The stuff on both his arms?”

“It doesn’t take a genius to write ‘Naughty’ and ‘Nice’.”

“But he did it so beautifully, with all the curly stuff around the words! A-And his paintings are always so beautiful. Plus, he’s the only spirit who would be open at this time.”

April rolled their eyes and groaned, slowly sitting up, allowing Jack to slowly stand upright. They pressed their face into their hands and went quiet for a moment, seemingly in thought on whether or not they wanted to subject themselves to this or not, before finally facing them both.

“Fine, we’ll go to the uptight rabbit.”

“Yay! See, I knew you’d come around!”

\--------------------------------------

After the three of them managed to squeeze through the door to the flat and stumbled down the street and into the town square, they started their slow walk towards the tattoo parlour. Jack and Scarecrow lagged behind, discussing what they were going to get. Jack knew what he wanted immediately, and that was that lucky cat clock, right on his inner ankle. Was that what it was called? Anyway, that’s what his heart was set on. With that, he could remember both April and their atrocious cat clock that took up space on the mantelpiece. Scarecrow seemed to really want a rainbow snowflake to remember both Jack and April, with the rainbow mirroring the multicoloured spots all over April’s body, and the snowflake mirroring Jack’s powers. He joked that the rainbow could also represent Jack’s very obvious interest in men, which earned him a laugh from Jack, as well as a snowball to his big, pumpkin head. April was deciding not to get a tattoo, as they felt they were already covered in enough colours and shapes as it was, which they all agreed was understandable.

As they approached the shop, Jack took in the sign at the front. It was written in some unknown dialect built up of flowers and cursive scribbles, with the universal translator below it saying “Aster's Tattoo Shop", with the small green light next to it indicating that the shop was open. The logo of the shop were two brightly coloured patterned eggs, that made Jack gesture to the logo and say to April "You" which Scarecrow found very funny, and April very much so did not. Jack walked ahead of them, and pushed the door open, holding it open for the others who stumbled into the shop before closing the door behind himself. The inside of the shop was incredible to say the least, with tattoo designs and artworks littering every surface of the walls. Some images showed simple black patterns, created to be wrapped around someone like a band. Some others showed beautiful figures of spirits in delicate poses.

However, none of those artworks compared to the one standing at the front counter.

The rabbit was tall, with soft grey fur that covered meters of toned muscles and the brightest green eyes he had ever seen. Those eyes were currently set in a glare directed over his shoulder at April, who seemed to be glaring right back at him.

"Bugger off, April" the rabbit growled out at the prankster spirit, who rolled their eyes in return at him.

"I mean it, I'm not offering my services to you. Fuck off. I should probably put 'No fuckwits with no braincells called April allowed' on my sign out front to really drive that into ya thick skull."

"I'm not here for one of your dumb tattoos, Rodent, I'm here to babysit my friends while they get tattoos."

Aster removed his eyes from April to look at the poor suckers they had dragged in, and his gaze softened into a look of surprise at Jack. His eyebrow quirked up in confusion.

"A winter spirit? Didn't think these two would ever be your kinda crowd."

Jack was too busy gazing into Aster's eyes lovingly and swooning to register what it was that he said. Lucky for him, Scarecrow piped up for him.

"Town office thinks we are his kind of crowd."

Aster nodded slowly before reaching behind his desk and grabbing a sketchbook.

"... Okay, head into the other room, and we'll start sketching up plans for what you two want... I'm gonna grab a cuppa before we start" Aster said, gesturing lazily to a side room and walking in the other direction into a small room that looked somewhat like a tiny, cramped kitchen.

Scarecrow and April lead the unresponsive Jack into the room that the oversized rabbit had gestured to, and Jack collapsed down onto one of the couches with a dreamy sigh.

"I want one."

April rolled their eyes and flopped down lazily next to Jack.

"Jack, no. The rabbit is completely off-limits. Do I need to remind you about his number one hobby in cockblocking any and all kinds of fun?"

Jack responded with a pout and crossed his arms.

“I didn’t stand in your way when you kept flirting with Loki, remember? Even though he... I can't remember what he did right now, but he did something."

“Yeah, and you should have stopped him, because he went along with it for a few days before deciding to cast a spell on me to make every action I do manual.”

“Yeah, that was really funny.”

“Yeah, it absolutely was, but I also almost died. Jack, I’m saying this so you don’t get hurt when that stuck up ‘guardian’ doesn’t think you’re good enough for him. You saw how he reacted when we walked in here! He hates prankster spirits! Thinks we’re a heap of clowns with no responsibilities or morals!”

“I mean…”

“Jack, don’t agree with him.”

Scarecrow sat down beside Jack and put an arm around him.

“Who cares if Jack wants to hook up with the sour hairball. Jack, y’know what I say? I say absolutely go for it. We’ve got a couple hours here; you can win him over in that time! In fact... I think we should play a little game... Jack, if you manage to kiss that guy before we leave, I'll come back with you and I'll get a tattoo of anything you choose."

Jack perked up at that. He loved a good game, especially one where one person's dignity was on the line. April felt the same way, apparently, and also seemed to snap to attention at this bet idea, despite their previous backlash to the idea. The thought of Jack embarrassing himself and seeing what they meant about the rabbit being a fun-hating asshole had most likely fuelled their interest.

"I'll go in on this mess too. Jack, if you actually somehow manage to get that asshole to kiss you, on purpose, I'll stick around at the flat for another year on top of getting a tattoo with Scarecrow next time."

"But if you stay, there's no point in us getting these tattoos right now."

"There's no point in you getting them right now anyway, and it's only if you win, and so far, I'm moving out at the end of the year, tattoo free."

"... Fair point... What do I get if I win?"

"You're already getting a kiss from the rabbit, what else do you want?"

"... Cat clock."

"Nope. You get the kiss and our conditions."

Jack grinned and nodded, plans already brewing inside his head.

\--------------------------------

Aster had just finished up with a client when he saw the familiar face of April Fools waddling into his place of work, followed by two other spirits who’s names he couldn’t place. He thought he had told April that if he ever saw their stupid face again after that incident 14 years ago on April Fool’s day, where they got into his Warren through some unknown tunnel that they still refused to tell him about, and painted all his egg sentinels in overly saturated eyesores of Christmas colours, he’d more than happily stomp their teeth into the edge of a curb, even if that meant putting up with whatever furious lectures Tooth would no doubt hit him with.

After they assured him that they weren’t here for his business, thank gods, and were simply playing babysitter for the two other spirits they had with them, he relaxed a little bit, although, he would’ve happily tattooed a huge dick onto their body as payback for the 5 weeks he spent trying anything and everything to scrub the thick paint off of his egg sentinels. 

The closer spirit to him was a tall, lanky scarecrow. A Halloween spirit, he guessed, if the jack-o’-lantern head was anything to go off of. The spirit who was staring at him and appeared completely out of it was immediately recognisable as a winter spirit. Winter spirits tended to be stoic and cruel, with horrible tempers and a bite far worse than their bark, so what one was doing hanging out with a pair of trickster spirits was completely unbeknownst to him.

The Halloween spirit was quick to tell him that the very pretty if Aster was being totally honest winter spirit had been placed with them by the town office. A winter themed trickster spirit, perhaps? He hadn't heard of those before in any of his 2.3 billion years on this planet, but whatever, there was a first for everything.

Aster now stood in the tiny, cramped kitchen off to the side of the waiting room of his tattoo parlour, waiting for the water in the tiny silver kettle sitting on the stove to boil. Aster had taken up tattoos as a form of business during his off season, after many different spirits had seen the ink he'd done on North's arms for an early birthday present and had gone to him, requesting various tattoos, all willing to trade with him for a tattoo. 

Currency didn't exactly exist within the spirit world, instead, they relied on trade to keep things moving. If you wanted something, you had to offer up something of equal value, or at least convince the person you were buying off that what you were handing over was of equal value. 

The most common forms of payment were specialised spells and enchanted objects, and Aster had been handed over his fair share of spells and strange objects, usually ancient books, as payment for the works he carved out onto their bodies.

The little kettle on the stove began to hiss and spit, and Aster quickly took it off the heat, pouring the hot water through a tea strainer into a worn mug that had seen better days. 

The mug had been a housewarming gift from the spring spirits he had lived with when he first moved into the town over 300 years ago, and was handmade by Ēostre herself, who had gotten quite into pottery in her time living in the town. It once had a handpainted image of a rabbit on it, but that image had worn away over time, and he felt that repainting it would take away from it being all Ēostre.

He took his cup of tea off the counter and carefully squeezed out of the tiny space into the waiting room, and walked into the side room, where the three trickster spirits were waiting.

"Hey, sorry to keep you waiting." He said, grunting as he sat down in the chair next to the three of them, pointedly taking the one furthest away from April, who didn't notice him at all, being far more interested in picking at bits of fluff on their pants.

The scarecrow was up first in picking out a tattoo design, being that he was sitting closest to Aster. He had picked out a rainbow snowflake to go up on his head, next to the pumpkin stork, to make it easy to hide under his hat while working. Aster sketched out a few different snowflake designs, and the scarecrow picked out the most simplistic one, a simple snowflake lined with the colours of the rainbow.

The winter spirit was up next, and he picked out a small maneki-neko with a clock under its paw. Aster's sketch of the tattoo made the spirit cackle with laughter, to which April rolled their eyes and smirked.

The tattoos the two had picked out were strange, and seemingly had nothing to do with the spirit's themselves. Spirits typically got tattoos to add to their identity, to add markers of what they were and stood for. The scarecrow had nothing to do with snow, or rainbows, and the winter spirit had nothing to do with maneki-nekos or time. Perhaps they were some kind of in joke between them? Them being prankster spirits, it would make sense.

Aster took a gulp of his tea and straightened up, leaving his seat and walking out of the room to get his notebook where he filed all his payments from his desk draw. He stood at his desk for a moment, flicking through the pages to find the next free page.

"Excuse me?"

Aster nearly jumped out of his skin and spun around to face the winter spirit, who was leaning casually against the doorframe, a smug grin plastered on his face at Aster's reaction.

"... What?"

"I wanted to discuss payment? Maybe somewhere a bit more... Private...? Don't want them hearing about it..."

The "them" he was referring to were currently still seated in the other room, arguing passionately about whether or not flares were stylish in anyway. The answer was obviously no, but April felt very sure that they were. Another reason to dislike them.

Aster stared at the smug winter sprite for a moment, before gesturing to the kitchen.

"Go through, I'll follow you."

The spirit nodded slowly and pushed away from the doorframe, walking into the tiny kitchen, with Aster following in after, the two of them cramped into the tiny space.

"... I noticed you don't like April..." The spirit said with a grin.

"And? What's that got to do with payment?"

"Well, how's giving them any tattoo of your choice for payment?"

"... What?"

"April and Scarecrow made a bet with me, and if I win, they'll get a tattoo of my choosing, and I'll let you choose the tattoo. How's it sounding?"

"Well, unless you win whatever the bet is, they don't, so I won't have payment. I need a definite payment."

"No, listen, the bet is easy to win, and it involves you. All you have to do is kiss me in front of them, and-"

"Excuse me, what?"

"Yep, and-"

"Why would I kiss you?"

"Because you'd love to tattoo something horrible on April."

"... Fair, continue."

"All you have to do is kiss me, and your payment is a very permanent tattoo on April."

"... Okay, let's go out there, I'll give you a kiss, and-"

"No! Then they'll know I told you about the bet!"

"So what's the plan then?"

"Just? Don't make it look staged? Do it so it feels natural?"

"So... Build up to it?"

"Yeah, exactly! They won't work it out if it feels off."

Aster thought about it for a moment, jotting down the pros and cons inside his head. The cons? none, really. April gets a giant dick tattooed on their face and Aster gets to suck face with a very pretty winter sprite. 

"Okay... Fine... But this is just so I can get some revenge, okay?" This was absolutely a lie, the voice in the back of his head told him. He'd happily kiss the smirking shit in front of him without a dare.

"Got it." the winter spirit affirmed with a nod.

\-------------------------

"Work up to it" was the worst plan Jack had come up with.

The longing glances shot Jack's way by the tattoo artist while he traced over the snowflake pattern on Scarecrow's head with the tattoo gun didn't go unnoticed by April, and Jack knew that the heated stares were just an act to guide April into a false sense of security, but that didn't stop the voice in the back of his head's hopeful and love filled chattering each time he made eye contact with the rabbit.

The flirting throughout his tattoo was so much worse. Each teasing flirt felt so real, and each lingering touch on his skin felt so gentle and loving as the artist lined the work of art on his arm carefully. 

"You right there?" the rabbit asked with a grin, as Jack held his breath as another line was traced over by the tattoo gun. Jack grinned back as soon as Aster lifted the horrible pain device away from Jack's arm, and replyed with "never better, couldn't feel a thing." The artist chucked at that, and Jack felt his face frost over at the sound of his laughter. It was a nice sound, and he felt so proud to be the one who caused it.

April and Scarecrow were beginning to look very nervous from their seat across the room, as they watched the exchanges of longing stares and flirty banter between Jack and Aster.

The whole situation made frost rush to Jack's head, a combination of the tattoo, the flirting, the voice in his mind, the thought of the bet, and the weed that was wearing off and leaving him paranoid hitting all at once, making Jack's head feel underwater.

Soon, it was done, and Aster wrapped the tattoo on Jack's arm carefully, giving him instructions on how to care for it properly. Jack nodded along to each instruction, and April and Scarecrow seemed to be in quite a hurry to leave now, most likely in the hopes that Jack would leave without a kiss from the rabbit.

"Jack, come on." April hissed from the door, very urgently signalling for him to wrap it up and leave.

Jack nodded and got off the tattoo bed, thanking Aster, who smiled and responded with "no problem, mate". Jack pulled his hoodie back over his head, carefully pulling his sleeve down over the plastic wrap, and walked to the door, Aster following after him.

"Don't be a stranger, mate. Come by any time."

Aster's words felt genuine, not guided by their deal for payment, and Jack felt a thick layer of frost cover over his cheeks. Jack nodded and beamed up at Aster, who leaned down and met Jack's lips in a kiss, resulting in a loud "shit" from April.

The kiss felt nice, though awkward, with their face shapes being very clearly not compatible, and Jack raised a hand to comb through the fur on Aster's cheek. Aster pulled back first, and grinned at Jack, before looking at the two very distressed spirits.

"Hey, pumpkin head, you still haven't payed."

Scarecrow's face remained slightly pained, and his gaze didn't move from them both, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass flask with a cork stuffed into the opening, filled with a bright green liquid that seemed almost comical.

"Will... Will this spell be enough? It's for healing, I think...? Or maybe it's for flight...? I never put a label on it..." he asked, dangling the flask out in front of him for Aster to take. Aster nodded, and took it with a suspicious glance at the neon liquid inside.

"Thanks. You lot have a good night, except you, April, I hope you get hit by a car."

April rolled their eyes and started to walk off in the direction of the town square, with Jack and Scarecrow hurrying after.

"So..." Jack grinned wide at them both as they walked back towards the flat "I've already had some thoughts for those tattoos..."


End file.
